Chapter 6: Diary

Huff… huff…

Lin Yan collapsed onto the floor, dragging in ragged breaths. Every inhale sent a burning pain through his chest.

But he didn’t dare let his guard down for even a second. His eyes remained locked on the pile of wreckage.

Crack… Crack, crack…

Splintered wood and scattered files shifted aside as a black, chitin-covered arm pushed through the debris.

A moment later, the security guard’s massive frame slowly emerged from the wreckage.

Dust coated its body. Its cap had fallen off, revealing a bald scalp crisscrossed with thick surgical stitches. Its neck was twisted at an impossible angle, yet the empty black sockets where its eyes should’ve been remained fixed on Lin Yan.

It was completely unscathed.

Sure enough, that hadn’t been nearly enough to injure a monster like this. If anything, it only seemed to make it angrier.

Lin Yan’s heart sank.

He’d exhausted every trump card he had. His staff had been knocked from his grasp, landing several yards away. His stamina was pretty much depleted, and his internal injuries were only getting worse. Against a monster that couldn’t be killed through ordinary physical means, he no longer had any way to fight back.

Meanwhile, the guard advanced one heavy step at a time, each footfall echoing like the tolling of a death knell.

Lin Yan closed his eyes.

His studio, the unfinished crafts scattered across his workbench, the warm sunlight streaming through the window…

No, I can’t die here!

His eyes snapped open, madness flashing across them.

He still had one last weapon—his talent, Omnicrafting!

Omnicrafting… and “omni” meant everything!

If everything could be crafted…

If he could touch this monster…

If he could understand its structure…

Could he craft it into something else?

The thought took root and spread through his mind like wildfire.

His gaze locked onto the approaching guard as he dropped into a low crouch, every muscle tensing like a dying beast preparing to launch one final, desperate attack.

Just then…

RIIING!

A shrill alarm suddenly blared from the nurses’ station counter.

It was… the nurse call button!

Lin Yan and the security guard both froze, instinctively turning toward the sound.

On the counter, a red call button flashed wildly, its piercing alarm echoing through the corridor.

[Rule 5: The call button is to be used only in life-threatening emergencies. Anyone who abuses it will receive “special care” from the nurses.]

Who pressed it? Was it someone in Room 304 or another player?

The shrill ringing seemed to possess a strange, almost supernatural power.

The bloodthirsty security guard, who had been moments away from killing Lin Yan, suddenly went rigid. The savage expression on its face twisted into raw, unmistakable terror, as though it had just heard the most horrifying sound imaginable.

“N… Nurse… Special care…”

The monster muttered under its breath as its enormous body began trembling uncontrollably.

Before Lin Yan’s disbelieving eyes, the once-overbearing security guard spun on his heel like a startled rabbit, crashed straight through the nearby window, and hurtled from the second floor, disappearing into the darkness below.

Crash!

A heavy thud echoed from outside, followed by the frantic sound of footsteps rapidly fading into the distance.

The security guard… ran away because of a call bell?

Lin Yan stared blankly at the shattered window before slowly turning to the flashing red button that was still blaring on the counter, his mind struggling to process what had just happened.

Just how terrifying was this “special care” if even a monster like that ran for its life?

Ring… ring… ring…

The bell kept ringing.

Gritting his teeth, Lin Yan forced himself back to his feet. He staggered to the reception counter and slammed his hand onto the red button.

The ringing cut off instantly.

Silence swallowed the nurses’ station once more.

Only the scattered paperwork littering the floor and the toppled filing cabinet remained as evidence of the desperate battle that had just taken place.

Bracing himself against the counter, Lin Yan caught his breath before making his way to the far-left drawer.

The lock was still there.

His gaze flicked to the short staff lying a few feet away, then to the shattered window the security guard had disappeared through. After a brief hesitation, he bent down and picked up the ring of keys the monster had apparently knocked loose during its escape.

More than a dozen keys hung from the ring.

One by one, he tried them.

Click.

The third key slid smoothly into the lock and turned.

The drawer opened, but there was no diary inside.

Only… a key.

A beautifully crafted silver key with the number “1” engraved on its bow.

Beside it lay a neatly folded note.

Lin Yan picked it up and unfolded it.

Written in elegant handwriting were the following words:

“When you find this note, it means you’ve passed the first test.

The real diary isn’t here. The ones scattered throughout the hospital are nothing more than fakes planted by the director to mislead anyone searching for the truth.

If you want the truth, go to Specimen Room 1 on the first floor. That’s where I hid my real records.

Be careful around the mirror. What you see in it isn’t always your reflection.”

At the bottom was a single signature: Su Wan.

Su Wan? Is that the name of the nurse in Room 307?

Lin Yan frowned.

Things had just become even more complicated.

That nurse’s diary had been a fake all along?

The real trail led to the specimen room on the first floor?

And once again…

Mirrors.

He put the silver key and folded note away before his gaze settled on the broken piece of the surgical forceps lying on the floor. Black blood still clung to it.

It was part of his staff.

He walked over, picked up the detached piece, then retrieved the rest of his staff.

[Recyclable Material Detected: Tainted Metal (Common)]

[Enhanceable Item Detected: Unyielding Guardian’s Staff]

An idea struck Lin Yan. Gripping the staff and the metal fragment, he focused on a single thought.

Craft.

A faint warmth flowed from his palms into both objects. In his mind’s eye, the internal structures of the staff and the metal fragment dissolved into countless fragments before weaving themselves back together, piece by piece.

[Item enhanced!]

[Unyielding Guardian’s Staff Enhanced: Crude+ → Common-]

[New Passive Effect: Corruptive Blight]

[Corruptive Blight: Attacks have a low chance of inflicting the target with the Weakened status for a short time.]

The staff had changed, if only slightly.

The fractured section sealed itself seamlessly. The surgical forceps fused with the shaft as though it had always belonged there. The black blood coating its surface seemed to sink into the metal itself, leaving behind dark crimson veins that snaked across the staff, lending it a far more sinister appearance.

Lin Yan gave the staff a few experimental swings.

It felt noticeably heavier in his hands, sturdier than before. More importantly, it felt like an extension of himself, as though the bond between them had grown even stronger.

“Still not enough…” he murmured.

If he wanted to survive in this world, he would need greater strength and more materials.

His gaze drifted toward the staircase leading to the first floor.

There awaited the specimen room and beyond it…

An even deeper layer of hell.